Susquehanna Township School Board member Linda Butler, right, tells students to put their signs down at the start of the school board meeting on Monday, Sept. 23, 2013.
Christine Baker | cbaker@pennlive.com

One is on the record as the chairwoman of the committee listed on the flier.

A note on the flier states it was paid for by the “Concerned Citizens of Susquehanna Township Committee.”

School board member Linda Butler is chairwoman of that committee, said Jerry Feaser, director of Dauphin County's office of Elections and Voter Registration.

Butler, who was defeated in the primary election, did not return multiple calls for comment Saturday.

The flier’s headline on the front page reads: “Can We Trust Clifton Edwards to Turn Susquehanna School District Around?” The flier includes a photo of a Patriot-News article from March 28, 1999 that lists Edwards as one of 12 people arrested in a prostitution sting. The back of the flier has a copy of Edwards’ letter of resignation, submitted to the state Department of Education in 2009.

Edwards declined comment for this article, but explained himself at length for an earlier story. He denied he was soliciting a prostitute, and explained he believed the charge was reduced to disorderly conduct and record of it expunged on the condition he perform 50 hours of community service.

Feaser said he didn’t have any information regarding contributors to the committee Butler chairs or the committee’s expenditures because, so far, he had not received any campaign finance reports from the committee.

The last round of reports were due by Oct. 25 and were to include expenditures up to Oct. 21, Feaser said.

Feaser said the committee was created only a couple weeks ago. The committee's registration statement is dated Oct. 20, and it was received by Feaser's office Oct. 23.

Carol Karl — a candidate for school board who’s running as part of a team with Edwards and Jesse Rawls, Sr. — said she knew the mailer was coming after overhearing another school board member talking about a mailing Oct. 22 while in the Dauphin County Library.

Karl said she heard the board member say something to the effect of, “We’ll plaster Clifton Edwards with that mailing. Then we’ll put it up on the Facebook page.”

PennLive could not verify the member Karl mentioned has any ties to or knowledge of the committee.

Karl said whoever put out the mailer seemed very concerned about something that “may or may not have happened” nearly 15 years ago between two adults.

“What comes from my heart though, what I believe more strongly than anything … they’re so concerned about this and where are they, where were they when one of our children was … allegedly being sexually abused, and they didn’t call law enforcement?” Karl said.

The Dauphin County District Attorney's office is investigating whether or not school officials violated mandatory reporting laws in connection with a former high school assistant principal who allegedly had sex with a female student.

There has been no indication any school board members knew of the rumors about Shawn Sharkey — or school administrators’ investigation of the rumor — until shortly before he was charged.

While going door to door Saturday morning, Karl said several people she spoke with thought the mailer was offensive.

“I didn’t come to a single voter who criticized Clifton Edwards because of this mailing,” Karl said. “They saw it for what it was, which was nasty politics.”

While Butler is listed as chairwoman of the committee, Karl questioned the extent of her role in the mailer.

“Linda is not the power behind this thing,” Karl said. “This is a professionally prepared hit piece. Linda Butler would not know how to do this, and I say this as a compliment to Linda. This a nasty piece of work.”

“I think the most important question is who contributed the money to pay for this,” Karl said.

Feaser said that information wasn’t available Saturday afternoon, as the committee had not yet filed any campaign finance reports.

The “Concerned Citizens of Susquehanna Township Committee” is not listed as having contributed to any candidate in the school district race, according to candidate campaign finance reports.

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